A Nuke Worker who's too big, too old and too bald, but still thinks he's a runner.

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Catching Up

I was in Orlando the past week for a meeting of nuclear power plant cooling water people. It was nice to have a zero commute time and the mornings were a little cooler than on the coast here in Texas. The meeting was held in an Embassy Suites (nice breakfasts, lunches and snacks during breaks) near the DisneyWorld complex. I found a 5 mile loop on the USATF website that was about a mile away from the hotel that looked interesting. On Monday morning I missed one of the turns and ended up doing about 10 miles on the same sidewalk....that became my "never ending sidewalk" course. Later I was able to look up the 5-mile course again, and I ran it as a 7-miler the rest of the week.

I was able to drive past my first apartment after college. In 1981, I lived in Orlando for six months while attending the Navy's Nuclear Power School. The Navy is long gone from Orlando now and Orlando has grown tremendously, but it was interesting to see a few familiar sites. After six months in Orlando doing classroom training, the Navy sent me to Idaho Falls, Idaho for six months of practical training operating a submarine nuclear propulsion plant in the desert. I'd really like to get back to Idaho some day. I'd love to run this race.